# TO M. A. AND M. I. ULYANOVS

Source: PSS vol. 55

18/V. 97.

I received this week, dear Mama, two letters of yours (from 20. IV and from the 24th) and I am answering the latter with the first post, which leaves here this evening. Write me when a letter arrives from here, i.e., on what day. These letters took so long to reach me because they were forwarded from Krasnoyarsk here and that forwarding consumed masses of time. Regarding finances — I do not remember whether you asked me twice (as you write in your letter of 24. IV), or perhaps I forgot about it. While I had good finances, I did not write. But before leaving Krasnoyarsk (around the 26th-28th) I sent a registered letter with a request

for a money transfer: now, presumably, they are traveling from Krasnoyarsk here.37 Then I also wrote from here that for now two weeks' worth will suffice for me.

As for your traveling here solely to beg a transfer for me — that is absolutely and utterly not worth it. Firstly, I myself will probably get permission for a transfer if I begin to make inquiries. Secondly, the village of Tesinskoe is hardly better than Shushi.

According to all the preliminary information we gathered beforehand, Tes is considerably worse than Shushi in respect to the locale, hunting, and so forth. Thirdly, the journey here is not such a simple matter — I have already written about this and today I am writing about it in still greater detail to Manyasha, who is accusing (in jest) me of "terrible inhospitality." From Tesi I have not yet received a letter38 and, knowing nothing about it, of course I shall undertake nothing: perhaps they will yet ask to be transferred somewhere else if Tes turns out to be as bad as we have heard about her.

Shu-shu-shu — a decent enough village. True, it lies in rather bare terrain, but not far off (some 1½-2 versts) there is a forest, though heavily logged. There is no passage to the Yenisei, but the Shush River flows right past the village, and then a rather large tributary of the Yenisei not far off (1-1½ versts), and there one will be able to bathe. On the horizon — the Sayan Mountains or their spurs; some are completely white, and the snow on them hardly ever melts. So, even in terms of scenic beauty there is something worth noting, and it was not for nothing that I composed verses back in Krasnoyarsk: "In Shush, at the foot of Sayan..." but beyond the first line, unfortunately, I composed nothing!

I am surprised that you write not a word about sending me the rest of the books. It is a pity if they have not yet been sent (I wrote about this long ago from Krasnoyarsk*). Now the steamboats should be reaching Minusa (the water is rising considerably), so that the bundle would be easy to transfer here. But afterwards it will be difficult again, because the Yenisei creates masses of shallows, and high water does not last long. Perhaps, however, the books have already been sent?

* See this volume, p. 28. Editor.

As for my complaints that you write to me rarely — that is all ancient history now, and the matter is explained by the astonishing (for us, unaccustomed to it) slowness in receiving an answer to a letter. I wrote this, I believe, some month or month and a half ago: which means it referred to those letters which you were writing still in late March! But now I am receiving letters more frequently than before, and I do not think letters are being lost, because then the loss would surely be revealed upon receiving subsequent letters. Apparently, except for the first letter, which Anya sent to the station, not one letter has been lost. Here, in the village, one will have to devote even more attention to correspondence, so it is better if letters from "Russia" come more frequently.

You write: "Anya says she has already read the editorial response." I did not quite understand this. Did she read the response or has the editorial office already managed to read it? Does Anya know any details about the dispute with the editorial office, about the war against it by the gold prospector and Company? Did she not hear "the other side," i.e., someone from the editorial office?39 I shall wait for her letter.

Have you had a newspaper sent to me? I sit here without any newspapers at all. In Minusa too it would be necessary, because there is no reading room there.

My regards to Mark. He is not sending any news of himself at all. I can report to him and Mitya that there appears to be decent hunting here. Yesterday I rode some twelve versts and shot both ducks and snipe. There is plenty of game, but without a dog and moreover for such a poor shot as I am, hunting is quite difficult. There are even wild goats, and in the mountains and taiga (some 30-40 versts away, where local peasants sometimes go hunting) there are squirrels, sables, bears, and deer.

I regret not having taken a waterproof raincoat. It is essential here. Would you not send me one in a small package? — because I do not know when I shall get to town again, or whether I shall find anything suitable in such a city-village as Minusinsk. Perhaps also (if there is money) I shall ask Mark about purchasing a good revolver: though for now I do not yet see the need for it.

Your V. U.

What is the news about Columbe?* I heard that he married and that he is ill. Do you know anything about him?

Anatoly and Yulia have been thrown in prison again: they did not want to leave without waiting for navigation, and so the governor-general ordered them to wait in the jail!! The steamer to Yeniseysk was supposed to leave from Krasnoyarsk around the 20th of May.

To Manyasha
18/V. 97.

I received, Manyasha, your extracts. Much merci for them. I hardly shall go into them in detail before autumn — because now I am more engaged in loafing and doing nothing.

Therefore, whether anything else will be needed and what precisely — for now I cannot say.

As to my "terrible inhospitality," I shall dispute this with you. After all, before being "hospitable," i.e., receiving guests, one must first find out where one will be living — and I did not know this when I was in Krasnoyarsk. One cannot call it knowledge when I hear and say: "Shu-shu-shu," but do not imagine either the route to this Shu-shu-shu, or the locale, or the conditions of life, and so forth. Then, before being hospitable, one must first convince oneself that guests will be able to reach here and lodge — I won't say comfortably, but at least tolerably. And I could not say this until the very last moment, i.e., only until mid-May. Your letter, however, you are probably already reading in June.

Which means the better half of summer will go entirely to making inquiries and preparations! Is there sense in this? That a journey here is a rather troublesome and hardly pleasant affair, you have surely already seen from my letter with the description of the path on horseback. It was fortunate that the weather was magnificent — but if there had been rain. The weather here is extremely changeable. Just yesterday I went hunting; the morning had lovely weather, quite hot and summery. In the evening a terrifying, bitterly cold wind suddenly arose and rain on top of it. We all arrived covered in mud

* The reference is to I. Kh. Lalayants. Editor.

and, had it not been for the fur coat — we would have frozen on the way. The locals say that in Siberia such occurrences are not uncommon even in summer, so that people take fur clothing with them even in summer when they go somewhere*. Before one settles in and looks around — one does not invite guests.

In any case, if one had to come here sometime — it would be necessary to send a telegram in advance from Minusa saying that steamboats reach the town and that navigation has become stable. Otherwise, there is always the possibility of such a mishap as a steamer being stranded halfway. The Yenisei creates masses of rapids and shallows, so that navigation as far as Minusinsk itself lasts very briefly, and one must "catch" it. Even now I do not know for certain whether steamboats reach Minusa: I think they do, on the basis that the water is rising very considerably.

By the way, regarding telegrams. Our (village) "postman" is in Minusa on Thursdays and Mondays (the mail arrival days to Minusa). Therefore, if one has to send a telegram, it is most convenient to send it on Wednesday and Sunday, i.e., so that it arrives in Minusinsk in the morning on Thursday and Monday. Then I will receive it in the morning on Tuesday or Friday. Of course, one can send it through a courier on another day, but that is much more expensive and only for the most urgent cases.

I am generally very surprised that you are reluctant to go abroad. Is it really more interesting to sit in a village near Moscow?? And if you go to Moscow to take music lessons, surely one will be able to go to a nearby town too? I think, however, that you will already be reading this letter somewhere abroad.

I press your hand. Your V. U.

Send me all sorts of catalogs, especially of second-hand book dealers and especially foreign ones.

in the journal

* I am thinking of acquiring myself a short fur coat for hunting trips.

TO M. A. ULYANOVA AND A. I. ULYANOVA-ELIZAROVA

Sent from the village of Shushenskoye to Moscow

First published in 1929

"Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya" No. 2-3

Printed from the manuscript